First and foremost, Don Charles is a very good boxing trainer. The man who currently trains reigning IBF heavyweight champ Daniel Dubois has also worked with Derek Chisora, with Charles guiding Chisora to some big wins and some good performances.
But Charles surely went far too far in comparing Dubois with the Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) who “shook up the world” by defeating heavyweight monster, reigning world champion Sonny Liston, this of course in February of 1964.
Charles, speaking on the Talk Sport show, said to we fight fans that “you are all going to witness it again,” this when Dubois will, in Charles’ opinion, upset Anthony Joshua on September 21 at Wembley. Charles feels Dubois will prove people wrong in his big fight the way Ali did in his far, far bigger fight.
“The coaches know better, talk is cheap. My fighter will demonstrate in September while you are wrong,” Charles said. “When the late Muhammad Ali beat Sonny Liston, he was written off by all the experts but he made it quite an easy night. It was based on the fact Liston was beating everyone at the time, and he proved everyone wrong. You are going to all witness it again.”
Talk Sport presenter Simon Jordan, never a guy to be hesitant in expressing his strong opinion on something, pulled Charles up, telling him his comparing Dubois to Ali was “ridiculous.”
“Having a different opinion based on conventional thinking is not undermining anybody,” Jordan said to Charles. “It is just having a different opinion so grow up, and I don’t think you should be comparing Daniel Dubois to the then Cassius Clay. I think that’s a ridiculous comparison.”
Doubtless many fans will be in agreement with Jordan here. Firstly, even if Dubois does beat Joshua (for the record, I’m picking AJ by short and sweet, two-round demolition job; Dubois being, in my opinion, almost tailormade for Joshua), it would not rank as anything like as stunning an upset as the one Ali pulled off in ’64. Also, Charles really should know better, with him now having put both himself and his fighter under additional pressure with his quite unexpected Ali, Dubois comparison.
Maybe, if Charles had compared Dubois with a great puncher of the past it would not have been quite so, well, ridiculous. “DDD” can punch with the best of them, we know this. But how would an upset KO over AJ prove to be anything like as unexpected as Ali’s win over Liston was? Or is Charles suggesting his fighter will outbox, frustrate, and ultimately demoralise Joshua the way Ali did Liston?
Dubois could pull it off on September 21, and if so, Charles will be justified in hollering loud how very good his fighter is and that he himself knew he would get the win in the all-British clash. But even then, the comparison Charles made between Dubois and the greatest heavyweight boxer who ever lived would not be made palatable with fight fans.
Charles went way too far here……agree or disagree?
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